Free schools will be not for profit, says Nick Clegg

Nick Clegg will today rule out the possibility of the Government's new free schools being run for profit as he seeks to reassure Liberal Democrat sceptics that the policy will improve social mobility.

As the first wave of the new-style schools prepare to open this week, the Deputy Prime Minister will insist that he would "never tolerate" them becoming "the preserve of the privileged few".

In a speech this morning, he will say that they will be incentivised to attract under-privileged pupils and set up in areas of high deprivation or with shortages of school places.

The free schools policy is seen as a distinctly Tory strand of the Coalition Agreement, with Lib Dem activists voting against it at their party conference last year over concerns that it is socially divisive.

Mr Clegg will acknowledge that the programme - in which groups of parents, charities or any other organisation can bid to open schools where existing provision is poor - is "controversial" and carries "risks".

But he will go on: "I am confident we have mitigated those risks to make sure this is now a policy which will promote higher standards, better integration and fairer chances especially for children from the most deprived backgrounds.

"They must not be the preserve of the privileged few - creaming off the best pupils while leaving the rest to fend for themselves, causing problems for and draining resources from other nearby schools.

"So let me give you my reassurance - I would never tolerate that."

Tory Education Secretary Michael Gove, who has championed the flagship schools policy said yesterday only that it did not need profit "at the moment".

"Nick Clegg and I are completely agreed on this. The Conservative election manifesto said that we didn't need to have profit at the moment. Nick doesn't believe that we need to have profit at the moment, and we don't," he told BBC 1's Andrew Marr Show.

Asked about in the future, Mr Gove added: "Well we're in a coalition now and we're working to ensure that we get more free schools."

In his speech today, Mr Clegg will say: "To anyone who is worried that, by expanding the mix of providers in our education system, we are inching towards inserting the profit motive into our school system, again, let me reassure you: yes to greater diversity; yes to more choice for parents.

"But no to running schools for profit, not in our state-funded education sector."

The first 24 free schools are planning to open within the next month. The Department for Education (DfE) said 15 of them were oversubscribed for their first year.

Half of them are in the 30 per cent most deprived communities, according to DfE analysis.

Mr Clegg will say that he wants to see all of the next wave of free schools - to be decided by Mr Gove in the next few weeks - to be in poorer neighbourhoods or in areas with shortages of places.

Free schools will also be allowed to prioritise disadvantaged youngsters in the admissions process, he will say, incentivised to do so by the extra funding they will bring in with the pupil premium.

"The more of them the school takes, the more money it gets. That's a simple, but crucial, financial incentive," he will say.

"No one has reformed the admissions code like this for years.

"In future, free schools must use this power to do all they can to make sure that they have the same proportion of Free School Meals pupils as the local average - at least."